Traditionally, computing devices have executed computer-executable instructions that were packaged in the form of application programs to access computer readable data packaged in the form of separate data files that could be created, edited and read by the application programs. The data, or content, that was created, edited and read by the application programs was conceptualized independently from the application programs themselves. For example, one user would utilize an application program to create a data file, and such a data file could then be provided to a second user who could, independently, utilize another copy of the same, or compatible, application program to read and edit the data file created by the first user.
With the advent and increasing prevalence of network communications, the exchange of data became more efficient and more widely utilized. Network browser application programs were developed that could read multimedia and hypermedia data which could then be made available to many individuals simultaneously through networked server computing devices. To enable users to find, and subsequently access, data relevant to their interests, network search mechanisms were developed that could parse the data available on one or more networks and direct users to those data files that were relevant to those users' interests.
As computing devices became more varied in their hardware capabilities, the presentation of data became intermingled with the computer executable instructions of the application programs that could consume such data. For example, a user utilizing a traditional desktop personal computing device can utilize a network browser and a network search service to locate, as an example, hotels near the user. However, were the user traveling, and sought to perform the same action utilizing a mobile computing device, such as a smart phone or a tablet computing device, the inherent hardware limitations of such a mobile computing device, including the mobile computing device's smaller display and a slower network connection, could render such an action inefficient. Instead, to provide efficiency to users of such mobile computing devices dedicated applications have been developed that can present such a user with analogous information such as, in the above example, hotels near the user. In such instances, the application programs are often nothing more than a repackaging of already available data into a form that is most easily accessed and consumed by users of computing devices comprising inherent hardware limitations such as, for example, the inherent displaying communicational limitations of mobile computing devices.
Unfortunately, the prevalence of application programs, such as for mobile environments, can decrease the utility of existing services and functionality that are not designed to consume such applications and make use of their content. For example, existing network search services have become very efficient at cataloging data available via network communications, and thereby provide useful services to users by enabling those users to find data relevant to their queries. Such existing network search services, however, cannot utilize existing mechanisms to catalog data that is packaged in the form of an application program, nor can they even discover, let alone catalog, data that, while it may be separately available on a network from the application program, is available only through custom, or predefined, network communication channels that only a corresponding application would be aware of and be able to utilize. As another example, users of mobile computing devices can have selected one or more application programs that such users believe are relevant to their needs and interests. However, due to the inherent hardware limitations of such mobile computing devices, it can be difficult for users of such mobile computing devices, utilizing existing network browsing functionality, to find networked sites associated with the one or more application programs that such users are already familiar with.